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No FDR, Obama Hands Heart And Soul Of Democratic Party To GOP

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The Senate voted successfully for cloture yesterday on the Obama tax cuts deal hammered out between the White House and the Congressional Republicans last week, passing the procedural motion by a convincing 61-7 vote.  We can expect this bill to be on the Senate’s agenda for final passage sometime today.

But the Democratic caucus in the House said last week they would not go along with the White House deal in its current form and have called for additional changes, including an increase of the estate tax before falling in line behind the Senate.

If the Democrats are being “held hostage” by the Republicans, according to President Barack Obama’s latest interpretation of Republican abdurate behavior on extending the Bush tax cuts, then repeal of DADT is being “held hostage” by a White House negotiated tax deal that every Democrat seems to find odious, but appears to be resigned to passing, despite any misgivings they may have about giving away billions of dollars to the wealthiest of Americans.

Everything else on the Senate calendar has been held in abeyance, including DADT, which has a “whistling in the dark” chance of passing as a stand alone measure, introduced late last week by  Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and co-sponsored by Senators Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) and Mark Udall (D-CO) with original co-sponsors. Bless them all for trying, although I believe it is a Sisyphean task, with little, if any chance of winning passage.   The DADT repeal vote could come as early as today or tomorrow.

As the 111th Congress lurches toward final adjournment, currently scheduled for Friday, despite opposition by many Democrats in the House caucus, there is no doubt that if the Senate version of the tax cut bill, if passed, is brought to the House floor, there will be more than enough votes to pass it, no matter how odious it seems. The question that remains unanswered is:  “Will Speaker Nancy Pelosi resist White House pressure to bring the Senate measure to the House floor without changes?”

With changes, the House version would have to return to the Senate for another vote taking additional time, something unlikely to be accommodated.  Thus, my restated pessimism about the odds of passing repeal of DADT, asumming a tax deal passed by Congress would politically trump any effort to repeal DADT.  And don’t forget this White House has been insisting that the START Treaty remains a huge priority for passage in the Senate, requiring 67 votes.

But before we turn the page on this Congress, let us not forget how this situation began: Obama political advisor David Axelrod announced just a few days following the mid-term elections’ debacle that the Administration would not fight the Republicans by opposing a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts in the lame duck session of Congress.  An immediate uproar of opposition propelled a feeble attempt by the White House to walk this announcement back, but ultimately, Obama did indeed cave while shouting  a metaphorical “no mas!”

Never mind–if this odious deal comes to pass–Obama has not only foresaken a major campaign promise , but he has also betrayed his supporters, undercut the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives and given away the store to the Republicans signaling early that he had no stomach for a fight, even if such jawboning would galvanize his base.  Not to be content to accept such an unacceptable outcome, Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist, actually carried out a 9-hour “standing at the podium,” true fillibuster opposing the Obama tax deal last Friday.  Sanders did not support a vote for cloture Monday.

But what the hell–let’s just give away the farm–just the first rail of Democratic Party politics conceived and advanced by FDR in the first 99 days of his administration in 1933 amid the Great Depression, called a “New Deal”— which Congress rapidly adopted to “deliver relief to the unemployed and those in danger of losing farms and homes, recovery to agriculture and business, and reform, which included the banks and the financial houses”.

Sound faintly familiar?  Yes, FDR put together a social and economic platform to save the working man, the American family and provide for their economic security during his nearly 16 years as president.  The scion son of one of America’s wealthiest families, Roosevelt had the ability to articulate to the American public what he believed the country needed and the people deserved during the Great Depression.  He also possessed the requisite guts to take on the Wall Street barons and the bankers who stopped the American economy cold during the Great Depression by shuttering banks throughout the land, while many committed suicide as they came to ruin during the Wall Street Crash of October 1929.

FDR wrapped up the New Deal and Second New Deal that included Social Security and unemployment assistance into the framework of the “Four Freedoms”: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear–which he delivered to Congress during his State of the Union address, January 6, 1941.

These freedoms ring as true today, as they did nearly 70 years ago, when America would face an axis of fascism by a xenophobic Japan and a nationalistic Germany with a monstrous plan to subsume Europe under its control as it exterminated as many Jewry as humanly possible.  America’s economy had lagged for 12 long years following the Wall Street crash of 1929.  Bread lines stretched out across America and people begged to work for food.  There were thousands upon thousands of homeless families jumping trains, living in open fields and poverty struck tenements, which depression era photographers would capture for the ages.

At the end of 2010, America’s economy remains soft and millions are out of work, while many believe they will never work again.  College graduates are interning for no pay and string together short-term contracts with no benefits to survive.  We are at war, tied down in Afghanistan fighting an ephemeral enemy who bases itself across the porous border in Pakistan and fights further away in close by Middle East states such as Yemen. And we have yet to finish off a second war in Iraq.  These wars are burning $2 billion a week from an American treasury which is propped up by billions of dollars in loans from non-ally China.  This situation is simply unsustainable, even for America and all of its wealth.

With so much at stake for the American people, the “coup de grace” was personally delivered by Obama when he caved to the ascendant Republicans last week.  Obama and his negotiators willfully gave up the heart and soul of the Democratic Party to Republicans who proudly work, even brag about their representation of the richest among us.  Obama’s soaring oratory fails him in this moment–no words can save us from vacuous policies that throw good money after bad.

And so I quote FDR who so wisely and eloquently said on Jan. 6, 1941,

A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups.  A free nation has the right to look to the leaders of business, of labor, and of agriculture, to take the lead in stimulating effort, not among groups, but within their own groups.

The best way of dealing with a few slackers or trouble makers in our midst is,  first, to shame them by patriotic example, and, if that fails, use sovereignty of Government, to save Government…

Certainly, this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of social revolution which is today the supreme factor in the world.  For there is nothing mysterious about the foundation of a healthy and strong democracy.  The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple.  They are:  Equality of opportunity for youth and for others; jobs for those who can work; security for those who need it; the ending of special privilege for the few; the preservation of civil liberties for all and the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

So as Mr. Obama prepares for a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, I hope he will read FDR’s speech which seems to scream out to all of us nearly 70 years later.  We need not reinvent a wheel.  Take a page out of history Mr. Obama and fight for what is right for Americans–for what is urgently needed now–not in two years, not in eight years, but now.  If our leaders can’t fight for what is right and just during a tenuous time in our history, then what will become of this great experiment called America?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5iHKtrirjlY%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US


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OPINION

Trump Complains He’s ‘Not Allowed to Talk’ as He Gripes Live on Camera

Published

14 mins ago

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April 23, 2024

By

At the end of another short courtroom day that required barely three hours of Donald Trump’s time, the ex-president spoke to reporters inside Manhattan’s Criminal Courts Building to complain about a wide variety of perceived and alleged wrongs he is suffering, including, not being “allowed to talk.”

The ex-president’s presence was required only from 11 AM until just 2 PM. Judge Juan Merchan is overseeing Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecution of the ex-president in a case that has already drawn a straight line through the “hush money” headlines to correct them to alleged criminal conspiracy and election interference.

Judge Merchan, for nearly two hours Tuesday morning, heard prosecutors’ allegations that Trump has violated his gag order ten times, and heard defense counsel’s claims that he had not.

It did not go well for the Trump legal team, with Judge Merchan toward the end of the hearing, during which no jurors were allowed, telling Trump lead attorney Todd Blanche, “You’re losing all credibility.”

READ MORE: Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

During the day’s hearing, jurors heard prosecutors’ lead witness, the former head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, David Pecker, explain how he was working to help the Trump campaign.

“David Pecker testifies that, following his 2015 meeting with Trump and [Michael] Cohen, he met with former National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard,” MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin reports. “Pecker outlined the arrangement and described it as ‘highly private and confidential.’ Pecker asked Howard to notify the tabloid’s West Coast and East Coast bureau chiefs that any stories that came in about Trump or the 2016 election must be vetted and brought straight to Pecker — and ‘they’ll have to be brought to Cohen.’ Pecker told Howard the arrangement needed to stay a secret because it was being carried out to help Trump’s campaign.”

Trump did not discuss any evidence against him with reporters, but he did complain about the gag order. And President Joe Biden. And the temperature in the courtroom. And his apparent attempt to stay awake, which has been a problem for him almost every day in court.

“We have a gag order, which to me is totally unconstitutional, I’m not allowed to talk but people are allowed to talk about me,” Trump told reporters, emphasizing the last word in that sentence.

“So they can talk about me, they can say whatever they want, they can lie. But I’m not allowed to say anything, I just have to sit back and look at why a conflicted judge has ordered me to have a gag order.”

READ MORE: ‘Rally Behind MAGA’: Trump Advocates Courthouse ‘Protests’ Nationwide

“I don’t think anybody’s ever seen anything like this,” Trump claimed, falsely implying no criminal defendant has ever had a gag order imposed on them previously. “I’d love to talk to you people, I’d love to say everything that’s on my mind, but I’m restricted because I have a gag order, and I’m not sure that anybody’s ever seen anything like this before.”

Trump then started to discuss the “articles” in his hand, what appeared to be dozens of articles he said had “all good headlines,” while implying they claimed “the case is a sham.”

Trump oversimplified the legal arguments attached to his gag order, as discussed with Judge Merchan Tuesday morning. The judge has yet to rule on prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt.

“So I put an article in and then somebody’s name is mentioned somewhere deep in the article and I end up in violation of a gag order,” he told reporters, apparently referring to his posts on Truth Social with persecutes say violated his gag order. “I think it’s a disgrace. It’s totally unconstitutional. I don’t believe it’s ever – not to this extent – ever happened before. I’m not allowed to defend myself and yet other people are allowed to say whatever they want about me. Very, very unfair.”

“Having to do with the schools and the closings – that’s Biden’s fault,” Trump said, strangely, as if the COVID pandemic were still officially in process. “And by the way, this trial is all Biden, this is all Biden just in case anybody has any question. And they’re keeping me, in a courtroom that’s freezing by the way, all day long while he’s out campaigning, that’s probably an advantage because he can’t campaign.”

“Nobody knows what he’s doing. he can’t put two sentences together. But he’s out campaigning. He’s campaigning and I’m here and I’m sitting here sitting up as straight as I can all day long because you know, it’s a very unfair situation,” Trump lamented. “So we’re locked up in a courtroom and this guy’s out there campaigning, if you call it a campaign, every time he opens his mouth he gets himself into trouble.”

Watch below or at this link.

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News

Biden Campaign Hammers Trump Over Infamous COVID Comment

Published

3 hours ago

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April 23, 2024

By

Four years ago today then-President Donald Trump, on live national television during what would be known as merely the early days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggested an injection of a household “disinfectant” could cure the deadly coronavirus.

The Biden campaign on Tuesday has already posted five times on social media about Trump’s 2020 remarks, including by saying, “Four years ago today, Dr. Birx reacted in horror as Trump told Americans to inject bleach on national television.”

Less than 24 hours after Trump’s remarks calls to the New York City Poison Control Center more than doubled, including people complaining of Lysol and bleach exposure. Across the country, the CDC reported, calls to state and local poison control centers jumped 20 percent.

“It was a watershed moment, soon to become iconic in the annals of presidential briefings. It arguably changed the course of political history,” Politico reported on the one-year anniversary of Trump’s beach debacle. “It quickly came to symbolize the chaotic essence of his presidency and his handling of the pandemic.”

How did it happen?

“The Covid task force had met earlier that day — as usual, without Trump — to discuss the most recent findings, including the effects of light and humidity on how the virus spreads. Trump was briefed by a small group of aides. But it was clear to some aides that he hadn’t processed all the details before he left to speak to the press,” Politico added.

READ MORE: ‘Cutting Him to Shreds’: ‘Pissed’ Judge Tells Trump’s Attorney ‘You’re Losing All Credibility’

“’A few of us actually tried to stop it in the West Wing hallway,’ said one former senior Trump White House official. ‘I actually argued that President Trump wouldn’t have the time to absorb it and understand it. But I lost, and it went how it did.'”

The manufacturer of Lysol issued a strong statement saying, “under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” with “under no circumstance” in bold type.

Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks were part of a much larger crisis during the pandemic: misinformation and disinformation. In 2021, a Cornell University study found the President was the “single largest driver” of COVID misinformation.

What did Trump actually say?

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out, in a minute,” Trump said from the podium at the White House press briefing room, as Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx looked on without speaking up. “Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, or almost a cleaning, ’cause you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. You’re going to have to use medical doctors, right? But it sounds interesting to me.”

READ MORE: ‘Rally Behind MAGA’: Trump Advocates Courthouse ‘Protests’ Nationwide

Within hours comedian Sarah Cooper, who had a good run mocking Donald Trump, released a video based on his remarks that went viral:

The Biden campaign at least 12 times on the social media platform X has mentioned Trump’s infamous and dangerous remarks about injecting “disinfectant,” although, like many, they have substituted the word “bleach” for “disinfectant.”

Hours after Trump’s remarks, from his personal account, Joe Biden posted this tweet:

Tuesday morning the Biden campaign released this video marking the four-year anniversary of Trump’s “disinfectant” remarks.

See the social media posts and videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Election Interference’ and ‘Corruption’: Experts Explain Trump Prosecution Opening Argument

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News

‘Cutting Him to Shreds’: ‘Pissed’ Judge Tells Trump’s Attorney ‘You’re Losing All Credibility’

Published

4 hours ago

on

April 23, 2024

By

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan heard arguments in court Tuesday morning without the jury present after prosecutors in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office accused Donald Trump of violating his gag order ten times, via posts on his Truth Social account.

Judge Merchan did not rule from the bench, but is expected to announce his ruling possibly as early as later Tuesday. Prosecutors asked for Trump to be held in contempt, and outlined four possible responses. Merchan refused one response but agreed three were possible.

Among them, Merchan might fine Trump and issue a stern warning that could threaten jail time if he violates the gag order in the future.

From the bench, Merchan had directed attorneys to create a timeline of events to show if Trump was reacting to what the ex-president’s attorneys called “attacks.”

“We’re gonna take one at a time, otherwise it’s going to get really confusing,” Judge Merchan said to Trump lead attorney Todd Blanche, as Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien reports. McBrien noted the judge “wants to get the timeline of these posts, reposts, and replies clear.”

RELATED: Fox News Host Suggests Trump ‘Force’ Court to Throw Him in Jail – by Quoting Him

Trump’s attorneys appeared to suggest if his posts are “political” they should not be subjected to the gag order, which bars Trump from making “public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding.”

“Blanche says that the witnesses are making money, documentaries, TV interviews about Trump, all while Trump is gagged and threatened with jail if he responds,” McBrien also reported. “Merchan wants to get into what was actually said rather than interpret and ‘read between the lines.'”

Blanche earlier had insisted Trump was aware of what the gag order requires.

“‘Just to set the record very straight and clear: President Trump does know what the gag order’ allows him to do and not do,” MSNBC contributor Adam Klasfeld reported.

One of the larger issues discussed appears to be Fox News segments made by host Jesse Watters. One aired hours before then-juror number two asked to be excused, saying they no longer felt they could be impartial.

RELATED: Judge Warns Trump to Not Incite Violence or Make Threats to Officials as Jr. Posts Link Featuring Photo of Judge’s Daughter

MSNBC’s Katie Phang posted this exchange between the judge and Trump’s lead attorney:

“Now, Merchan asks Blanche about what Jesse Watters, in fact, said.

Blanche: No.

Merchan: “So your client manipulated what was said and put it in quotes?

Blanche: I wouldn’t say it was a manipulation.

Merchan: This isn’t a repost at all. Your client had to type it out. Use the shift-key and all.”

It did not go well for Trump and his legal team.

At one point Judge Merchan told Blanche, “You’re losing all credibility.” McBrien reports when Merchan said that, “there was an audible gasp from the press.”

Former U.S. Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal weighed in:

“This isn’t quite like watching a full blown car accident, but it’s certainly like watching a fender bender,” McBrien also noted.

“This is going very badly for Trump already,” reported Courthouse News’ Erik Uebelacker. “Judge Merchan is losing his patience with Blanche, who can’t seem to prove that any of Trump’s attacks are ‘responses.'”

Attorney George Conway went further: “Blanche is flailing. This is painful to watch. Merchan is cutting him to shreds.”

Continuing, Conway wrote (not in quotation marks) Merchan said: “I’ve asked you several times to show me the post that the defendant was responding to. You haven’t done so once.”

He called the judge’s remark “BRUTAL.”

READ MORE: ‘Rally Behind MAGA’: Trump Advocates Courthouse ‘Protests’ Nationwide

“Basically, Blanche is pretty much arguing there’s a ‘running for president’ exception to the gag order that has been specifically directed at the man running for defendant,” Conway adds. “Merchan now getting pissed at Blanche’s unresponsiveness and evasiveness.”

Klasfeld also characterized the exchanges as “brutal.”

“Merchan says he’s going to ‘reserve decision on this,’ after brutal arguments for the defense.”

Trump has been criminally indicted in four separate cases and is facing a total of 88 felony charges, including 34 in this New York criminal trial for alleged falsification of business records to hide payments of hush money to an adult film actress and one other woman, in an alleged effort to suppress their stories and protect his 2016 presidential campaign, which could be deemed election interference.

Image via Shutterstock

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